Our Favorite Stuff From IFA Berlin 2017, Europe’s Biggest Gadget Show

The first week of September, the city of Berlin plays host to Europe’s largest consumer electronics show. IFA is roughly analogous to our own CES—hundreds of companies showing off their latest products, all splayed across miles of expo hall carpeting. Gobs of new gadgets are announced at IFA, and we’ve sifted through all this week’s news to find the good stuff. So grab a weissbier and a currywurst and take a look at our favorite gadgets from IFA Berlin 2017.

Sony’s Google Assistant Speaker

First up, a very smart speaker. Sony announced a speaker that cribs the best from an Echo, Home, and HomePod, all rolled into one terribly-named device. The new LF-S50G, which looks like the HomePod, supposedly sounds just as good, and comes with Google Assistant built-in. It ships in October, for $199, in black and white. Read more.

Credit: Sony

First up, a very smart speaker. Sony announced a speaker that cribs the best from an Echo, Home, and HomePod, all rolled into one terribly-named device. The new LF-S50G, which looks like the HomePod, supposedly sounds just as good, and comes with Google Assistant built-in. It ships in October, for $199, in black and white. Read more.

LG’s New V30 Flagship Phone

The V30 seems to be, in every way but one, a perfectly solid but mostly forgettable Android smartphone. The lone exception: the camera. The V30 contains more settings, more modes, and more raw camera capability than any smartphone we’ve ever used. And we mean that in the best possible way. Price is still TBD. Read more.

Credit: LG

The V30 seems to be, in every way but one, a perfectly solid but mostly forgettable Android smartphone. The lone exception: the camera. The V30 contains more settings, more modes, and more raw camera capability than any smartphone we’ve ever used. And we mean that in the best possible way. Price is still TBD. Read more.

The Beoplay E8 Wireless Earbuds

Nearly everyone in consumer tech is now making “truly wireless” headphones, a new term or art meant to differentiate stereo wireless headsets from untethered earphones that slot into your earholes. These nubbins are from Beoplay, the classy Danish audio brand, so you should expect them to sound better than average. And they offer five hours of battery per charge. For a brand that’s known for high design standards, it’s a shame these look a little me-too. Still, only so much you can do with a bud. $300.

Credit: B&O Beoplay

Nearly everyone in consumer tech is now making “truly wireless” headphones, a new term or art meant to differentiate stereo wireless headsets from untethered earphones that slot into your earholes. These nubbins are from Beoplay, the classy Danish audio brand, so you should expect them to sound better than average. And they offer five hours of battery per charge. For a brand that’s known for high design standards, it’s a shame these look a little me-too. Still, only so much you can do with a bud. $300.

Lenovo’s Upgraded Yoga Laptop

We’ve all fallen in love with Lenovo’s reasonably priced, high-performing Yoga convertible notebooks—so named because they twist and bend around into a tent or a tablet on a watchband-type hinge. The PC-maker gave the Yoga a bump at IFA; this is the new 920, which comes with an 8th-gen quad-core Intel chip and a 13.9-inch touchscreen with a 4K option. Also optional is a stylus so you can draw comics when you should be studying. Starts at $1,300, ships in October.

Credit: Lenovo

We’ve all fallen in love with Lenovo’s reasonably priced, high-performing Yoga convertible notebooks—so named because they twist and bend around into a tent or a tablet on a watchband-type hinge. The PC-maker gave the Yoga a bump at IFA; this is the new 920, which comes with an 8th-gen quad-core Intel chip and a 13.9-inch touchscreen with a 4K option. Also optional is a stylus so you can draw comics when you should be studying. Starts at $1,300, ships in October.

SanDisk’s Insane 400GB microSD Card

While SanDisk’s new miniature storage card may still not satiate the most extreme data hounds, good lord is that a lot of room in a teeny tiny package. The SanDisk microSXDC USH-I, which sounds like it was named after a lesser Star Wars droid, easily offers more space than any microSD card before it. It’s the largest storage capacity you’ll find on any memory card. It’s fast, too, with transfer speeds that Western Digital—which owns SanDisk—claims max out at 100MB/s. $250.

Credit: SanDisk

While SanDisk’s new miniature storage card may still not satiate the most extreme data hounds, good lord is that a lot of room in a teeny tiny package. The SanDisk microSXDC USH-I, which sounds like it was named after a lesser Star Wars droid, easily offers more space than any microSD card before it. It’s the largest storage capacity you’ll find on any memory card. It’s fast, too, with transfer speeds that Western Digital—which owns SanDisk—claims max out at 100MB/s. $250.

Logitech’s Keyboard With a Wheel

The Logitech Craft is a sturdy and comfortable wireless keyboard for Mac and Windows that has a wheel in the upper-left corner, just above the escape key. This wheel—or the “Crown input dial,” as the company calls it—works straight out of the box with Adobe’s Creative Cloud apps and (only on Windows PCs) Microsoft’s suite of Office apps. By pressing or spinning the wheel, you can adjust an image’s brightness in Photoshop, change stroke width in Illustrator, or zip through your timeline in Premiere. As a keyboard, it’s nothing too special. But did you see the KNOB? $200. Read more.

Credit: Logitech

The Logitech Craft is a sturdy and comfortable wireless keyboard for Mac and Windows that has a wheel in the upper-left corner, just above the escape key. This wheel—or the “Crown input dial,” as the company calls it—works straight out of the box with Adobe’s Creative Cloud apps and (only on Windows PCs) Microsoft’s suite of Office apps. By pressing or spinning the wheel, you can adjust an image’s brightness in Photoshop, change stroke width in Illustrator, or zip through your timeline in Premiere. As a keyboard, it’s nothing too special. But did you see the KNOB? $200. Read more.

A New Samsung Wearable

You have to credit Samsung for its chutzpah. The company’s has tried forever to make its smartwatches happen, but nothing has put Samsung in the conversation with Apple on the smartwatch side, or Fitbit on the fitness side. Now, Samsung’s hoping to take on both Fitbit and Apple with the Gear Sport, a durable smartwatch that’s just as powerful as your average fitness tracker and way better looking. Samsung also announced a new version of its ugly Gear Fit fitness band, and an upgraded pair of its Gear IconX wireless earbuds, but of the three, the Gear Sport has the best chance to really matter. No price yet. Read more.

Credit: Samsung

You have to credit Samsung for its chutzpah. The company’s has tried forever to make its smartwatches happen, but nothing has put Samsung in the conversation with Apple on the smartwatch side, or Fitbit on the fitness side. Now, Samsung’s hoping to take on both Fitbit and Apple with the Gear Sport, a durable smartwatch that’s just as powerful as your average fitness tracker and way better looking. Samsung also announced a new version of its ugly Gear Fit fitness band, and an upgraded pair of its Gear IconX wireless earbuds, but of the three, the Gear Sport has the best chance to really matter. No price yet. Read more.

Asus Unleashes Mixed Reality

We’re expecting bucketloads of mixed-reality headgear this fall, all of which you can hook up to your Windows PCs to go virtually snorkeling in the virtual Andes. But Asus’s Windows Mixed-Reality Headset has some excellent design flair. And we’re not just talking about that hot polygon eyepiece or the 90Hz screens within, but also the tracking tech. Instead of using accelerometers to track head movement, it uses cameras to spot LEDs planted on the included hand controllers. Neat! No price yet, but expect to pay out the Asus for it.

Credit: Asus

We’re expecting bucketloads of mixed-reality headgear this fall, all of which you can hook up to your Windows PCs to go virtually snorkeling in the virtual Andes. But Asus’s Windows Mixed-Reality Headset has some excellent design flair. And we’re not just talking about that hot polygon eyepiece or the 90Hz screens within, but also the tracking tech. Instead of using accelerometers to track head movement, it uses cameras to spot LEDs planted on the included hand controllers. Neat! No price yet, but expect to pay out the Asus for it.

A 3-D Printer That Outputs in Color

If you’re fed up with the drudgery of hand-painting battle armor onto your 3-D printed orcs and elves, then clear off some space on your work desk. XYZprinting has announced a table-top 3-D printer that spits out whatever figurine, model, toy, or tiny hamburger you desire in full, vibrant color. The da Vinci Color printer uses ink cartridges to drop pigment onto each layer of plastic filament as it prints with a resolution of 100-400 microns. It’s pricey: The printer alone costs $3,500, ink cartridges are $65 each (and you need four to make color), and the special filament costs $35 per roll. Read more.

Credit: XYZprinting

If you’re fed up with the drudgery of hand-painting battle armor onto your 3-D printed orcs and elves, then clear off some space on your work desk. XYZprinting has announced a table-top 3-D printer that spits out whatever figurine, model, toy, or tiny hamburger you desire in full, vibrant color. The da Vinci Color printer uses ink cartridges to drop pigment onto each layer of plastic filament as it prints with a resolution of 100-400 microns. It’s pricey: The printer alone costs $3,500, ink cartridges are $65 each (and you need four to make color), and the special filament costs $35 per roll. Read more.